Existing software-based and mobile device-based systems for aiding motorists seeking roadside assistance rely on a fractured collection of information databases and lack effective means for adequate real-time quality and security control. For example, the most common method for a motorist to locate and obtain tow assistance involves opening a web browser or mobile application, searching a provider aggregation or mapping database for a provider in the area, and contacting the provider of choice. Occasionally, the motorist may access a provider review database to obtain information regarding one or more such providers before selecting one to contact. Such steps, when taken, involve accessing different information databases, leading to longer waits and complicated search efforts.
Motorists' fragmented reliance on multiple databases and database operators also hinders the ability of operators and providers to effectively track service calls from start to completion. For example, a review website operator may capture a subset of its users' subjective thoughts regarding provider efficacy; but such an approach does not capture other details regarding the providers' performance with non-reporting motorists and with respect to unreported aspects of service calls. Attempts to obtain such information directly from providers are even less likely to result in a trustworthy cross-section of data.
Certain existing systems combine provider contact information and provider review databases for access at a single URL or via a single mobile application. However, such systems rely on a patchwork of voluntarily-provided motorist feedback for quality and security control. Such feedback may be provided in the form of electronically-submitted comments or via survey soliciting numerical rankings and scalars that may be aggregated with other reviews to rate the providers. But the low response rate from motorists and the inevitable skew toward responses that are either unusually good or unusually bad tend to reduce the usefulness of these systems. Moreover, any security benefits motorists might realize are backward-looking; such solutions do not provide real-time information about the specific employee assigned to a motorist by a provider, nor about that employee's progress on the job.
There is therefore a need for a new system and method for aiding motorists in obtaining secure, location-based roadside resource matching and tracking.